April Fools Day
by The Petit Filous Girl
Summary: For the marauders it's the biggest day of the year. For everyone else it's time to run for their life.


A/N: A very random fic, written for Dream-Like-State's Numbered Story Lines Challenge.

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April Fools Day

It was odd how in Hogwarts, during the weeks leading up to the beginning of April, everyone seemed to be awaiting the arrival of the new month anxiously. Some would look forward to it with glee while many others began to quake with fear at the thought of the dreaded day. Even the teachers seemed to have a sense of trepidation for the first day of the fourth month. Two words could sum up why: The Marauders.

Every year, since they first came to the school, April Fools Day had been a significant day in the lives of the four marauders: they'd always do some sort of huge prank to celebrate the day. In first year they'd put some sort of super glue on every surface, so people had got stuck whenever they leaned on or touched anything. The next year everyone had woken up on April the first to find the entire school covered in gelatin. Third year all the slytherins had woken up bald. Last year had been the worst yet: it had been so awful nobody spoke of it, and if it had to be mentioned it was referred to as 'the incident'. Therefore everybody was awaiting the marauder's fifth Hogwarts April Fools Day with great anticipation.

Teachers and students alike kept their eyes on the marauders during the week before April first, to see if they'd give a hint as to what they were up to. Gryffindors were able to note that in the common room, the marauders sat round a table discussing something with low voices. Whenever anyone would come near, they'd stop talking and glare at the person until they left. The marauders looked like they were plotting. The whole of Hogwarts wanted to know exactly what they were plotting.

The Hogwartians woke up on April Fools Day with a bubble of excitement, all wondering what the marauders had either done or were going to do. It was the subject of discussion on the way to breakfast but when people reached the great hall they stopped and gasped in horror. Walking into the hall, as normal as any other day, were the four biggest pranksters of the school. While that in itself wasn't too unusual, something was missing. The hall hadn't been 'decorated' and the slytherins seemed fine. As for the marauders themselves…it was odd. They were being…civil.

The marauders might as well have been onstage for the amount of attention they were getting. All eyes followed the four teenagers through the hall and as they sat down. Seemingly oblivious to the staring, the boys chatted and ate breakfast like any other day. Through the hall there was a sense of anticlimax: everyone, including the teachers, seemed disappointed by the lack of pranks. Normal conversation began and everyone got on with usual morning routine, guessing that the prank would happen later.

However, nothing did. Throughout the day everyone watched the marauders warily, just waiting for something to happen. As they walked through the corridors students tripped over in their haste to stay away from them. During lessons, the teachers constantly watched the boys. Strangely, they seemed to be acting well behaved today, much unlike their usual behavior. At dinner everyone seemed sure something big would happen, perhaps an explosion, but no. As they went to sleep, the entire school wondered why the marauders had disregarded their tradition. Perhaps they were creating a false sense of security? Maybe tomorrow they'd do a prank, when nobody expected it.

Nope. For the rest of the week the marauders were watched in fear, until everyone finally gave up hope that they were going to pull a prank. Most teachers and some students breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the marauders had finally grown out of their pranking ways, while others felt let down by this revelation.

It was the day exactly a week after April first, an ordinary Tuesday, when something finally happened.

_Two weeks earlier…_

"What're we going to do this year then?" Peter asked his friends eagerly as they sat around a table in the corner of the common room.

"Keep it down Wormy," Sirius hissed in reply, glaring at a worried looking second year passing by.

Remus sighed and looked up from the book he'd insisted on bringing with him. "Will I ever be able to convince you lot to give it a rest for one year? Everybody's terrified of what we're going to do. Should I remind you of what happened last year: _the incident_?"

James winced. "No need to mention that. We now know not to create cannibal chickens." He shuddered slightly at the memory.

"I don't think Flitwick ever recovered," Sirius put in cheerfully.

A small frown came onto the werewolf's face and the others knew not to disturb him; it was his 'thinking face', which had helped come up with the ideas behind some of their best pranks.

"I like pirates," Sirius said. "We have to do something pirate themed, with ships and parrots and-"

"Hold on a second Sirius," Remus interrupted. "Remember what I said about giving it a rest for one year?"

"Moony, we're going to do a prank whether you like it or not so-"

"Yes, yes, I know," Remus said, "but what I was trying to say is what if everyone doesn't think we're going to do a prank?"

"But we've been pranking for years," Peter pointed out the obvious. "Everyone knows we're doing a prank this year."

"If we don't do a prank on the actual day, but leave it for a week or so, everyone will be lulled into a false sense of security." Remus smirked evilly. "Then we can strike with a huge prank that'll teach them the meaning of the word marauders."

At this Remus was high fived by the other members of the gang.

"Can the prank be pirate themed?" Sirius asked, using the puppy dog expression he claimed to have created.

"Fine," James agreed. "But we'll first do Remus's plan: prank them when they least expect it."

_Two weeks later…_

As the Hogwartians had given up on the idea that the marauders would do a prank, they weren't expecting something big to happen on the Tuesday a week after April Fools. But it did. Everyone woke up like normal, got out of their hammocks and looked through the porthole. Wait…hammocks? Porthole? Why were the walls and floors now made of damp wooden boards? Why did everything smell slightly salty?

A hubbub formed as everyone rushed out of their dormitories…or cabins, as they seemed to be now. People rushed through the wooden corridors and went up the stairs only to be shocked at what lay ahead of them.

It was very…piratey. A scene you might find in a muggle pirate book, if you added in four grinning boys, dressed in pirate outfits standing arrogantly on the deck. Sirius even had a parrot on his shoulder, unaware that it had left droppings down his back. A towering mast stood in the middle, sails flapping in the breeze. At the top of the crows nest, a flag flapped, proudly bearing the typical Jolly Roger skull and crossbones. Most astonishing of all, the ship, for that was what the people of Hogwarts had suddenly found themselves on, was actually rocking. Caws of seagulls could be heard in the bright blue sky. Everyone was perplexed, shocked, amazed, and many other things, to find themselves on a pirates ship in the middle of the wide sea.

"April fools!" yelled the marauders in chorus, beaming merrily at the gaping faces of the entire staff and student body. Except for Severus Snape, who was tied up at the end of the gangplank.

It took the rest of the day for the teachers to be able to get the students back to the school safely. In the meantime, the marauders, who'd been yelled at and given an obscene amount of detentions, challenged whoever they saw to sword fights, speaking like pirates the entire time.

Nobody ever found out how the marauders had transported the entire population of Hogwarts, and a random disgruntled centaur from the forest, onto a pirate's ship in the middle of the sea. Then again, they didn't really want to know.


End file.
